The Bachelor Auction
by ZombieMonkey
Summary: Captain Janeway finally tells Chakotay how she feels about him, only to find him kidnapped by a tribe of women.


_Title: The Bachelor Auction._

_Author: Suzie_

_Disclaimer: Paramount owns them and always will. :R or NC-17_

_Summary: Captain Janeway finally tells him how she feels, only to have him taken by a tribe of women_.

There were many planets in the Delta Quadrant which would be considered weird or dominant of certain species. But there was one which was completely dominated by females, with only a small percentage of males. Hearania was one of them; with a high Dilithium contents and farming; perfect for a starship to come and refill their cargo bay. Voyager was one of those ships and when they found the planet on sensors and detected the Dilithium, they headed straight for it.

"Enter orbit Mr. Paris" ordered Captain Kathryn Janeway from her command chair in front of the view screen, looking at the glorious planet in view. It was a planet just like any other; with blue oceans and fluffy white clouds surrounding most of the planet. The land was mostly green, but there were a lot of mountain ranges that could be seen also; it seemed like the perfect place for some shore leave and they needed it. Lieutenant Paris made the correct adjustments to the ship, and it settled nicely into orbit; leaving only a fraction of the planet in view.

"We are being hailed Captain," Lieutenant Commander Tuvok told her from the Security console behind her. Nodding her head slightly, Janeway straightened her jacket and squared her shoulders as a very beautiful alien appeared on the screen. She had yellow skin, which deepened in hue as it went down her body; her eyes were a brilliant shade of blue, making Janeway's look pale in comparison and her black hair was elegantly flowing around her small shoulders.

Walking up to the bar separating the two stations; helm and the command area, she smiled her smile she saved just for negotiations and said in a clear voice,

"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway from the Federation starship Voyager. I would like to beam down and negotiate for some supplies, if that's alright with you?" the woman on the screen nodded her beautiful head slightly in a welcome gesture and replied,

"My name is Sabrina, leader of Hearania and I welcome you to our glorious planet; please beam down and we can begin negotiations at your earliest convenience." Janeway smiled again and turned to look at Commander Chakotay, who had a very wide grin on his face, as did most of the male officers on the Bridge. Mentally shaking her head and laughing she turned around and said in a clear authoritative voice,

"Thank you Sabrina; my security officer and I will beam down shortly." Nodding her head, Sabrina stated in a warm happy manner,

"Wonderful, I'll send over the coordinates. I look forward to meeting with you Captain." The screen went blank and Kathryn turned and looked at the Commander, who still had the goofy grin on his face. Shaking her head, she told Tuvok to make the arrangements and headed for her ready room, for a much needed coffee.

Two hours later, she was on the planet with Tuvok who was standing stock still as the welcoming party came over and hugged them both warmly. Janeway smiled her diplomatic smile and said nicely,

"Thank you again for welcoming us so warmly; we are in desperate need of Dilitium and were wondering if you would give us any?" the welcoming party just shook their flowing brown hair and motioned for them to follow. Shrugging, they entered a round building with a dip in the middle; it reminded Kathryn of a heart. Once inside, the group stepped out of the way, and motioned for the away team to enter a large room, with pink wall paper ad flowers every where. Tuvok raised an eyebrow as they stood in front of a desk, intricately carved from marble; behind which Sabrina sat lounging behind it with her legs tucked under her, beautiful curved figure. Gesturing for them to sit on the lounge chairs in front of the desk, she began

"Thank you for coming Captain Janeway. What would you like?" Janeway sat up straight, not wanting to sink into the soft cushions and fall asleep from the aromas coming from the flowers, she stated,

"We would like some Dilithium and hopefully replenish our stores of food. We are willing to trade for it, but not any weapons or shields." Tuvok nodded in agreement and looked at Sabrina skeptically.

"Of course, we would be delighted to help you any way we can. We are a peaceful planet, and have no need for any weapons of shields. We would like you to enjoy our planet as much as we do; perhaps you could allow your crew some shore leave?"

"Of course, I'll leave that to your capable hand commander. When can we begin?" Sabrina laughed a gentle laugh and held out her hands in mock surrender,

"I can see you very determined to get started, I'll send our Agriculture advisor over to you and you can make a list of hat you need. " with that, the meeting turned to more pleasant things and soon, they had everything all set and headed back for Voyager with high hopes of a pleasant stay. At least Janeway did; she had some plans already for a certain commander and she was going to implement them. Beaming over to Voyager, she went to her ready room and made plans for Neelix to meet with Abrigal, the Agriculture advisor. Settling back comfortably with a coffee in her hand, she finished the reports that were piling up on her desk and made the final touches on her plan.

Commander Chakotay whistled as he went into his quarters and sat down at his desk. Noticing his computer flashing at him, he turned it on and saw a message from Captain Janeway,

_To: Chakotay_

_From: Kathryn_

_Time sent: 1304 hours_

_Chakotay, _

_How would you like to have dinner tonight at 1900 hours? My treat._

_Kathryn._

Chuckling, he answered her back saying he would be delighted and changed into his civilian clothes, put on some cleansing music and set out do finish his reports. He couldn't concentrate though and found his mind wandering onto the planet below. The Hearanians were beautiful beyond description and all rational thoughts evaporated whenever he came in contact with them. It was hard enough when he was down there finishing the shore leave rotations and speaking to Sabrina. Now that he was back on Voyager, his mind once again wandered to the normal images of Kathryn and he found himself daydreaming of her in that little pink silk nightgown he caught her in two nights ago. She was breathtaking as she answered the door, a blush appearing on her cheeks as he stood there, smiling at her and handing in the crew evaluation reports. She invited him in for coffee, but being the gentleman, he refused and went next door and had really good dreams.

Getting up, he decided to get out and get some air so he grabbed his jacket and left his quarters, at the same time as Kathryn did. Smiling at him, she said with a slight purr in her voice,

"Commander," he gulped and nodded back to her as they entered the lift together, and said his destination.

"I hope you like what I'm preparing tonight, don't worry it's replicated."

"So, I won't have to call Sickbay to warn Doc then?" he couldn't help but tease her. She pouted a little and playfully smacked his arm and joked,

"We could always eat Leola Root Stew tonight."

"I'll think I can handle you cooking." he responded shuddering at the thought of the stew. She continued to stared at him, with something in her eyes as he stepped out after saying goodbye and walked away to head for the gym. She chuckled to herself as the doors closed and continued to go up to Astrometerics, where she would be meeting with Seven for another dull meeting. She also had to locate a perfect spot for her plan.

"Seven, could you show me the most perfect spot for having a moonlit dinner?" she asked as she entered and saw Seven working at her normal console, recalibrating something or another. Seven turned to look at Kathryn with an upraised eye brow and stated,

"Why would you want to eat in moonlight?" Kathryn laughed a little and explained her plan; nodding Seven entered the relevant data and soon had three places highlighted on the mad. Kathryn watched as Seven gave details about each one and how it would impact the plan with efficient results.

"Okay, I know exactly which one I want. Give me the coordinates and tell me if their within boundaries or the arrangements with the Hearanians." Pointing to the map, she highlighted an out of place island and took the PADD from Seven five minutes later. Walking out, she made the necessary arrangements with Sabrina over a secured channel and was warned about a savage race of females who stole men and sold them as slaves.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for them Captain, you just enjoy your romantic evening." Sabrina said softly, keeping her voice down in order not to get caught.

"Thank you, but I don't think anything will happen to him, well nothing I don't want to happen." Kathryn said winking mysteriously. Sabrina laughed and said good bye and closed the connection. Looking at the time, she got some of the things ready, making sure to put a phaser in her bag for protection and placing the bag by her door. Then she had a long hot bath, soaking in the scented bubbles.

Half an hour to go, Kathryn left Voyager and set up the picnic dinner on the cliff overlooking the city. She had a gorgeous view of the mountains far away; their snow topped peaks raised in glory above a languish lake, which looked inviting considering it was fairly warm out. The moon was raised to its full height above her casting shadows to dance over the cliff and trees behind her, as she laid the checkered tablecloth on the rocky surface. Somewhere around her the sounds of the native birds could be heard, sounding like songs of lonely hearts wanting peace. Kathryn sat down, listening to the songs and longed for him to hurry so she could tell him how she truly felt, but not in words. Just when she thought she couldn't wait anymore, she heard the transporter sound, making her turn around and see the blue shimmer marking his arrival. He looked around admiring the view as he stood there, wearing a beige shirt and brown vest;_ the same one he wore on New Earth_ she realized as she gazed at him wondering when he would sit down. He finally turned to her and took in her appearance; a blue dress, which went down past her knees showing off her beautifully shaped legs. Walking over to her, he put his hand out and produced rose, not a pink one she noticed but a red one and said,

"The view's beautiful Kathryn, good choice" Kathryn took the rose, smiled as she closed her eyes and breathed in its scent and answered,

"Thank you. Please have a seat, dinner's all ready; I thought we'd have sandwiches and salad. I didn't feel like making anything special." He sat across form her and opened the bottle of white wine sitting in a ice bucket and replied softly,

"It's perfect, but why here?" Kathryn placed the rose down gently and smirked as she spoke,

"Why not? It's a beautiful view and I have four days of shore leave, so I thought I'd start now." He chuckled gently as he handed her a glass of wine and said,

"To the Hearanians, for being so generous, and to you." He raised his glass up to the moonlight, making the amber liquid shimmer, as she did the same and spoke

"to the Hearanians. Why to me?" he just shrugged as he sipped his wine and put it down and smiled; his dimples coming out in full. _Damn those gorgeous dimples_, Kathryn thought as she sipped hers and placed it beside the rose.

"Because you finally taken my advise and taken time off. And because you look mesmerizing tonight." He replied after a short bird filled silence. They watched each other for a couple seconds, each one thinking about the other before Kathryn broke the silence and stated

"we are going to start mining Dilithium tomorrow and Neelix will have his list ready so he can negotiate for supplies." She was feeling nervous now, for no reason; it was just a dinner, outside with the man who drove her wild that's all. He took out a sandwich and held to out to her, before taking a salad and fiddling with it absently. He was just as nervous she realized suddenly as they both watched one another and smiled, blushing once they found out they were caught. Eating in silence, listening to the birds and looking over at the stars in the sky. Finally, when they were done, Chakotay glanced up and saw Kathryn looking at him with something in her eyes; was it desire, love, or contempt. Reaching over, he wiped away a crumb that was on her chin with his thumb and felt her shudder.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, watching her eyes closely. Nodding quickly, she blushed and muttered something, he leaned up to hear her closely and found her lips brushing his. Backing up he saw she was embarrassed

"I'm sorry Chakotay, but I thought it would be better than telling you." she got up then and moved further up to the edge of the cliff, hugging herself tightly.

"Kathryn, what are you trying to tell me?" he asked quietly, standing up and coming up to stand behind her, with one hand on her shoulder. She stood stiff against him; he could feel her trying not to cry as she whispered,

"I love you" too quietly for him to hear her, but he caught the last word and whispered back,

"You love me?" guessing what she had said as he felt her head bob up and down. Turning her around, he looked into her blue eyes and saw them shining as he caressed her cheek. Closing his eyes, he embraced her tightly to him and felt a tear run down his neck.

Taking her face gently into his hands, he lowered his mouth onto hers and brushed a kiss onto her lips. That was all she needed, as her arms snaked around his neck and she deepened the kiss; trying to pry his mouth open with her tongue. She was still crying when the kiss ended five minutes later, gasping for breath and looking into his dark eyes, seeing love and desire in them, knowing that was a reflection of her own eyes as he kissed her again and lowered her onto the hard rock, where they made love.

She kissed his chest when they laid there after, sweat dripping off their bodies to mix with the wine that was spilled when they made love. He held her tightly, nuzzling her hair with his face as he said,

"I love you Kathryn, I always have and always will." She lifted her face off his warm, glorious chest and whispered,

"I know; I'm sorry it's taken me so long to admit it to you, but I have loved you since you first came aboard my ship." She kissed him again, then lying her head back down he wrapped his arms around her and they both fell asleep in the moonlight, with the birds singing their approval.

It was only a couple hours later when they were rudely awakened by shouting women, running towards them and holding spears. Kathryn jumped up, grabbed her blanket and wrapped it over herself and said in her command voice,

"Stop, what is going on here?" the leader snarled at her a thrashed her spear at her, making her move away form Chakotay, who was sitting up looking horrified as three women grabbed him and tied him up with cords. Gagging him with some cloth, the leader ordered the women in a unkown voice and thrust a note into Kathryn's hands before hauling Chakotay to his feet and moving off with him, leaving a shocked naked Captain in their wake. Jumping to command mode, she threw on her clothes, and not bothering to gather her stuff, beamed aboard Voyager, with a mission.

"Captain Janeway to Commander Tuvok, report to my ready room now!" she ordered as soon as she entered her ready room on the Bridge after she changed her clothes into her uniform. Her mind raced as she punched up the protocol for kidnappers, hating the fact she couldn't actually negotiate for him but wanting to find him bad. Dropping the note onto her desk, she was just about to call Sabrina, when the door chimed.

"Come." She ordered and Tuvok came in and waited for his next orders,

"I'm afraid Commander Chakotay has been taken hostage. I left the crime scene in tact, so I want you to go down to the planet and start an investigation." He nodded as she gave him the coordinates and left to implement them. Opening a channel to Sabrina, she told her everything that had happened; well not everything but the important things anyway and found out it was the Hormway tribe; a savage tribe that stole males and used them for pleasure. Janeway gaped as Sabrina explained the kind of things that meant, and her heart went out for him.

"Is there anyway you could tell me what this means?" she held out the note and got the answer immediately,

"Yes, this is an invitation to our Bachelor Auction. Captain, you have come three days before the most romantic day of the year; 'Mallira uve Louvia'. Every year, we have this auction for the women of Hearania to find a mate. As you will find Captain, we only have a small percentage of men here; less than twenty percent actually, and the only way for us to find a mate is to buy them for a hefty price. There is nothing I can do for you Captain, you will have to buy your Commander back form them." Anger flared in Kathryn's eyes as she heard this and fought to get it under control as she spoke.

"Haven't you ever tried, meeting the men and trying a relationship that way? I'm sorry, but it seems to me a little barbaric to sell the men in order to find love." Sabrina smiled warmly at her and shook her head,

"We tried, years ago to do that, but found we weren't compatible enough for that; so my predecessor came up with the idea for an auction. It's worked for hundreds of years and we aren't going to stop now Captain, but there is something I can do for you. I will tell you where they are and you can try to negotiate for him. I'm sure if you pay the right price, they will sell him to you before then." Captain Janeway gripped her desk tightly as she swallowed that statement and received the coordinates to their camp. Signing off, she stood up, heart heavy with worry and anger and embarrassment. Blushing she remembered the scene; his clothes strewn all over the place, the picnic basket broken against the wall and the wine bottle lying down in it's own juices. Tuvok would know something happened, other than dinner, but he wouldn't put it in his report she knew perfectly well, thank god.

Going out of her ready room, she smiled at Harry, who was sitting in her chair and looking smug until he jumped up and waited her order. She waved it off and he sat back down slowly, watching her with a curious expression on his face as she entered the turbo lift. Pacing back and forth, she walked out and went to her quarters, typing in the privacy lock and engaging the lights as she walked into her bathroom and gasped. _No wonder he was staring_, she thought as she was the red mark just above her turtle neck line and laughed to herself. _Well, looks like Tom's going to be_ _happy_, she thought as she climbed into the shower and soaked in the steam. Her body was stiff and sore, and not because she had made love on a hard surface, but because she was worried sick over the fact that her lover was missing. Coming out, she got dressed in her nightgown and got a cup of coffee and sat down to the reports she forgot to read earlier. Sinking onto the sofa, she stretched out and knew Tuvok would take care of everything, since she had forwarded everything Sabrina had told her and tried to relax, but couldn't. Finally giving up, she paced around and found herself staring out at the planet below her trying to find Chakotay with her eyes, but knowing it wasn't so. She was so focused on finding him, she never heard the door chime until it beeped again; this time she sighed and went over to answer it to find Tuvok standing their looking at her.

"Yes Tuvok, did you find anything?" he nodded his head slightly and she allowed him to enter. Coming inside, she wrapped a robe over her and waited for his report.

"My report Captain," he handed over a PADD and stood there waiting for his next instructions. She looked it over, frowning slightly, when she finished. Glancing up at him, she spoke in a soft voice,

"There's no mention of any mess on the crime scene." He arched an eyes brow and nodded,

"Yes, I thought it wasn't necessary to include that information. Your personal life is of no ones concern Captain." She smiled warmly and touched his arm gently,

"Thank you Tuvok, can I expect you not to tell anyone?" he nodded slightly and stated,

"Yes Captain, and may I say, I am most relieved you have decided to capture the moment."

"Is that your way of saying your happy for me Tuvok?" she smirked slightly and eyed him closely,

"It seemed logical to do so." He nodded before he walked out leaving her shocked at his statement. Shaking her head, she sat back down and read over the report again and groaned when she read that there was no way to get him back but to buy him at the Auction. Leaning back against the cushion, she closed her eyes and fell asleep feeling depressed.

The day of the auction arrived and brought with it the most beautiful sky. There were no clouds and the sun was so bright against her eyes, Kathryn found herself shielding her eyes away from it while she looked up and felt the warmth on her face. She was down on the planet by herself to find and get Chakotay back, by any means necessary. She was wearing a peach colored sun dress, with a phaser hidden on her thigh. Her hair was pulled to her head by a headband and she wore earrings to accentuate her face. She put on some makeup which she normally wouldn't wear and looked dashing as she stood there waiting for the auction to start. Looking around, she saw Tuvok and other Security officers undercover and nodded silently to herself. All of a sudden a loud gong rang out and she looked up to see a chain of men walking towards the stage, all wearing thongs and nothing else. Scanning the men, she couldn't see him anywhere and sighed. Walking up to the stage, or as close to it as she could she glanced up at them and was shocked to see they all looked the same. They had light green skin, brown hair and handsome faces. They were nervous and excited and happy all at the same time she noticed as they glanced around at the crowd.

For awhile nothing happened, them just standing there, the women watching them and comparing notes; but then a second gong rang out and a voice was heard over the babbling voices and said in a excited tone,

"Hello, and welcome to the Valentines Day Auction. We are proud to have with us, twenty of the best looking men from around the solar system and a special surprise brought to us by an unknown source. Well get started in one minute, but first I want to go over the rules of the Auction. First, you can only raise you baton; there is no screaming here. Secondly, you must pay the money right after you win the prize, and with Hearanian money only; no foreigners money please. Thirdly, all sales are final. So, lets begin." A burst of applause went around the arena and Kathryn found herself smiling along with everyone else before she remembered why she was there. Hanging back, she waited until everyone calmed down before backing away and moving to the end towards Tuvok, who was looking perplexed.

"Anything?" she asked out of the corner of her mouth. He answered without looking at her, staring at the stage where the first male was standing alone.

"He is not in the area. I have officers surrounding the stage and outside of the area. We will find him Captain." Nodding slightly, she continued walking around the park and stopped once she was within distance of the stage. Glancing up, she saw Sabrina speaking into a microphone and gesturing with her hands.

"Come on now girls, no one will give three hundred Heariants? He will do anything for you, pleasure you, cook for you even kiss your feet if you ask him to." At this, the crowd screamed and soon his heart belonged to a pretty woman in the fifth row. Smiling wickedly, she pranced off and paid for him and took him away to a tower that was built just for the auction. It went on like that for three hours and still no sigh of Chakotay. She was getting really worried now and decided to take things into her own hands. Moving back to Tuvok, she told him everything she wanted to do and got the nod from him.

They walked around, trying to be inconspicuous and acting like tourists, talking about this and pointing at that. Glancing at her tricorder, she nodded over to the tower, motioning with her eyebrows to Tuvok, who blinked in response and together they started to walk over, but were stopped by two guards with spears standing infront of them.

"Step away, no one is allowed here without a man from the auction." One of the females scowled, raising her spear menacingly. They nodded and turned around, but didn't head in the direction of the stage; but instead went behind the tower and scanned it for any doors or windows. Seeing none, they stopped by a tree and looked inconspicuous as they formulated a glance.

"Okay, what now?" Janeway asked as she leaned against the tree trunk, glancing around.

"I suggest we try to infiltrate the tower and get him back."

"I'll go; no Tuvok, this is something I have to do on my own." She stated before he could say anything. He just turned to look at her and nodded slightly before he said calmly,

"Understood Captain, I just suggest you have some backup in case something happens to you." Smiling she touched his arm gently and nodded before turning and walking back to the beam out point. It would have to be done at night, two hours away and she needed to get ready.

Two hours later, she was standing beside the tree again telling her backup what she was going to do. Once everything was completed, she gave the signals and the team spread out. Taking her tricorder out, she checked to see if he was still in the room; and finding that he was, she snuck back to the back door and opened it carefully, to see one guard sitting their, watching her nails. She stood up once she noticed her and pulled out her spear

"Get out now, before I get you out" she snarled, holding the spear and charged her silently. Janeway ducked and spun around and karate chopped the Hearanian in the shoulder causing her to drop the spear. Picking it up, she advanced on the guard, put on a communicator on her and watched as she disappeared in a transporter glow. Nodding in satisfaction, she motioned for her backup to follow and made her way up the winding stairs. Halfway through, she ran into two more and jabbed with her new weapon before placing the communicators on them and running quietly up the stairs again. She had a problem now though as she had dropped he tricorder during the last fight and had to open every door to check. She knew he was somewhere close, Kathryn could feel him calling her. As she got closer and closer to the next set of rooms, she grew angrier as she thought what he was going through. Knocking out another native, she unceremoniously picked her up and threw her over her shoulders as she placed another communicator on her for transport. Finally, she came to the door that was locked; it was pink colored like everything else, but with a heart shaped window on the door. Glancing inside, she saw Chakotay lying on a mattress with only a thong on and watched with horror as Sabrina came up to him and whipped him with horse hair, or something like it. His face was a shadow of pain as she lashed out whipping him faster and faster on his chest, leaving red marks where the whip met his bronzed skin.

Kathryn stood there watching as Sabrina used everything in her power to torture him slowly; she felt her blood boil and her skin crawl as she listened to the disgusting sounds reverberating form the room. Sick twisted sounds of leather meeting skin; his grunts of pain as she poured hot wax on his body than smacked him with her hand. Kathryn couldn't stand it anymore and so she braced herself against the wall, and threw herself onto the door, shattering it into tiny pieces and running into the room. Sabrina stopped immediately; whip inches away from his face and stared at the madwoman in front of her.

"Get away from him now Sabrina; nice and slow." Kathryn snarled in a low voice which made Chakotay's sore skin crawl. He looked at her with amazement in his tired eyes as Kathryn slowly stalked towards her prey like a mother lion protecting her cubs. Dropping her whip, Sabrina backed into as fighting stance and prepared herself for the fight.

"Ahhhhh" Sabrina screeched as she pounced forward nailing Kathryn backwards and slamming her into the wall. Kathryn grunted at the force of the impact and landed hard on the cement floor, gasping for breath all the while her eyes shot phaser beams at Sabrina. Lifting herself off the floor and wiping blood off her lip, she head butted Sabrina and heard the satisfying crunch of breaking bones. Crying out, Sabrina grabbed her whip and began whipping her in the back, arms and shoulders causing pain to course through her, but adrenaline to over power it as she ran head long into her punching and scratching forgetting all about her training. Chakotay watched horrified as Kathryn and Sabrina scrambled on the floor, hair flying all around and swear words pouring out of the mouths of his lover and Captain. He tried to get up and break it off, but couldn't because he was tied to the bed and his energy was zapped. Struggling against the restraints, he shouted,

"Kathryn, that's enough, it's not like you to hurt someone out of revenge" she stopped suddenly, looking at him sweat dripping off her brow and mixing with the blood out of her nose. She stood up, struggling with her own demons of past times and nodded silently as he pleaded with her to calm down with his eyes.

"Chakotay," she whispered quietly as she stood up shakily and began to move towards him. Reaching him, she looked into his eyes and saw pain and love, as she tried to get the restraints off. Just when he was free a shout was heard as Sabrina came rushing at them with a phaser or what appeared to be one and pointed it right at Chakotay and fired.

The world stopped as the laser beam poured through the weapon, making its way painfully slow to Chakotay. Kathryn heard someone scream and felt someone move to block the beam from striking him in the chest and realized it was her when she felt the beam engulf her. The last thing she saw was Chakotay's face turning from gladness to utter horror at the sight of the beam engulfing her. He screamed and fired Kathryn's weapon at Sabrina, who went down immediately and ran to Kathryn's side and picked her up, holding her and watching as her eyes closed. Tapping the commbadge, they beamed aboard the ship; him never letting go as he fainted from exhaustion.

"Captain, can you hear me?" _was that the Doctor's voice or am I still dreaming_? She thought as she unconscious mind told her to wake up, but her body said sleep. She was having such a wonderful dream too; waking up in Chakotay's arms on Voyager, his arms holding her close to his body while his lips played along her neck line. Smiling, she turned over and realized there was no place to turn and opened her eyes to a bright light in her face. Groaning, she closed them again and asked groggily,

"Did you get the license of the ship that hit me?" there was a small chuckle from somewhere to her right, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking over, she smiled as she lifted her eyes half open and saw the hand. She knew that hand anywhere. Suddenly everything came crawling back and she opened them fully and said clearly,

"Doctor? Is Commander Chakotay okay?" the hand tightened on her shoulder and she relaxed slightly as she lay back down and looked into the eyes of her first officer. He was smiling down at her with concern in his eyes as he spoke softly,

"Kathryn, how are you feeling?" swallowing hard, she licked her dry lips and answered hoarsely,

"Like a shuttle craft hit me. What happened?"

"You saved Commander Chakotay but with a price. You were struck with a type two phaser beam across the chest. You're lucky to be alive. Humph, to think Tuvok actually let you go alone. I'll have to talk to him." The Doctor said sarcastically as he scanned her again with the medical tricorder and hummed to himself in satisfaction. Kathryn gave him the 'Death glare' and shook her head, causing it to pound in rhythm with her heart. Groaning, she placed a hand on her temple and squeezed slightly. The Doctor harrumphed again and walked away, leaving the two alone. Chakotay leaned down and placed a swift kiss on her cheek as she opened her eyes again and smiled at him. Taking her hand in his, he sat down and said softly

"Next time, don't be a hero; I had to watch and I didn't like what I saw. I saw you transform into something you hate. I was worried you died in my arms." He had tears in his eyes as he squeezed her hand tenderly and kissed her forehead, causing a lump to grow in her throat. She wiped a tear that fell from his eye and held her hand to his cheek and spoke in a hoarse voice,

"Chakotay, I was returning the favors I owed you. After all, you saved my life three times and now I only have to do it two more times then we're even. I love you Chakotay; I guess I was jealous that I couldn't beat you. In the pleasurable way of course." She winked slyly at him and he laughed and whispered, close enough to her ear so she could feel his hot breath

"All you have to do is ask Kathryn." Than kissing her ear gently, he went back to his bed and lay down before the Doctor came back and scolded them. Kathryn relaxed against the bed, trying to sleep, thinking about what could of happened if it hadn't been for him; her savior. Closing her eyes, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Three days later found Kathryn right back at work, trying to forget about her ordeal as did Chakotay, who sat next to her glancing every so often towards her direction to see if she was alright. She was looking restless in her chair, moving her legs slightly left to right and fidgeting with her fingers. Soon, she got up and walked to her ready room door saying,

"You have the bridge Commander" nodding, he sat back more comfortable smiling as he watched the viewscreen and saw the streaking stars shoot past the ship.

Fin…

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